[New York]: My Most Favorite Game

The New York Bureau of Pratie Place has three little brothers, ages 20, 9 and 4. Every time I see them - particularly the 4-year-old - I marvel at how kids seem to develop strong personalities basically as soon as they are born. My 4-year-old brother, a thoughtful, sensitive, smart, chatty, giggly kid, has only one flaw in my opinion - that every time I go home to see him, I have to help him play his favorite game... it's called...

TRAFFIC JAM.

Having lived in the city for nearly three years now, and having grown up in the suburbs, I quite frankly cannot imagine a less fun game than Traffic Jam. But the kid loves it, so what can I say.

Q: How do you play Traffic Jam?

A: You line up your toy cars - your very favorites - and put your hands on them and move them back and forth a little bit. Not much, though, because they are in a traffic jam. If you want to play with any other cars, that's okay, but the best ones are in the traffic jam. And really, if you're playing with someone else who decided it was time to play Traffic Jam, you shouldn't be playing with those other cars because they're not part of the game. However, feel free to sort of mess around with the cars in the traffic jam, as long as you do not move them too far from their position in the traffic jam.

Last time I was home, I got woken up at 8:00 AM to play Traffic Jam because the excitement about this game was just so great that some of us couldn't wait any longer.